Kzauo heard mentions of beef and lamb and poked his muzzle curiously into the kitchen, ears perked with interest. He made little grumbly noise and eased his head past the doorframe, sniffing hopefully.

Kazuo toddled into the room and sat down by the end of the counter. He rested his chin on the countertop and swiveled his ears back, interested in the promise of cupcakes but a little disappointed that the aforementioned delicious meats were not actually present.

He a questioning whuff noise, wondering what kindof cupcakes they were.

Kazuo's muzzle twitched. He didn't entirely like the sound of strawberry and peanut butter together, but his eyes squinted in a bear-smile. He shook his head lightly and lumbered to his four paws to waddle over to the pantry. He gave her side an affectionate nudge with his head as he passed her and went looking for the beef jerky he knew was on one of the higher shelves.

Kazuo beared whatever passed for the phrase "delicious dried meats" and started to stand on his hind legs in the pantry. He promptly bopped his head on the top of the pantry door and oohed, pressed his paws to his head, and looked very offended at the doorframe.

He made a short growling noise that sounded remarkably like "Rude," and grabbed a big bag of jerky from the top shelf. He toddled back into the kitched proper (taking care to duck as he pass through the pantry door again) and held out the bag proudly. Which he promptly dropped due to his lack of thumbs.

Du watched him with interest, winced in sympathy as he hit his head on the doorframe, and grinned as he came back with a bag of beef jerky. "Ooh, good choi-- oops." She went and picked up the bag for him. "Need a hand getting it open?" Resealable bags weren't easy to open with bear paws.

Kazuo looked embarrassed and rubbed his muzzle with the back of one paw. He drooped his ears and nodded his head, hamming it up and whining like a puppy as if his life depended upon acquiring the beef jerky.

Du laughed at his obvious over-acting. "You poor sweet fluffy thing, you." She opened the bag and held it out so he could reach in. "A day may come when the power of thumbs fails, but it is not this day! This day you snack!"

Kazuo grumble-growled his agreement and tore one of the strips in half with his teeth. He sat back on his haunches and made happy little bear noises as he munched. He wiggled as he ate, like a happy three-year-old with a candy bar.

Orion was staring, jaw slightly slack, at the freaking grizzly bear in the middle of the kitchen. That Du was apparently friends with. He turned his head slowly to blink owlishly at Du, then back to the bear, then gulped.

"Is... I mean intelligent, yeah, but is..." He flapped an entire arm in Kazuo's direction. "Is he someone's pet? Or... Or a student...?"

Du raised an eyebrow. How had Orion not at least seen Kuma in the hallways by now, two months into the semester? "Aye, he's in my year. You know Kazari Baratoge? Kuma's her brother. He turns human once a month."

Orion brow furrowed. "Kazari... Kazari..." He turned his head and squinted at Kuma, then his eyes went wide.

"You're Kazuo?!" He raked a hand through his hair. "When Kazari said her brother was a bear, I thought she just meant he was big and hairy! I didn't think she meant-- W-well, you're still very big and very hairy. But I didn't think it was a literal thing..."

Kazuo stuck the last piece of beef jerky in his mouth and gave Orion a raised-eyebrow "So there" look. The growl had been meant to ward off any passes at his sister, but the other male's response gave Kazuo confidence that Orion wouldn't be hitting on Kazari.

He gave Du a little bow and snuffled, pressing his paws to his cheeks to reiterate that his freckles were, indeed, adorable.

Orion's owlish stare slid from Du as she spoke to Kuma as he put his paws to his face, then back to Du.

"You're friends with a bear."

To Kuma, "You are a bear."

He ran his hands through his hair and blinked. He shouldn't be so surprised, really. Hell, he was --on some level at least-- a cyborg. Being a cyborg had to be much higher on the weird shit scale than being a werething that defaulted in shape to said thing.